Dual Clutch Transmissions have conquered an important fraction
of the market, mainly in Europe, as a result of their improvements
concerning efficiency.
Once the power flow from engine to the transmission is not
interrupted, fuel efficiency increases radically. Furthermore,
extreme fast and soft shifts provide the most dynamic and smooth
acceleration of any vehicle on the market, being particularly
suitable on high performance vehicles. The drivers have also
experienced singular comfort, since they can choose whether to
control the shifting or let the computer do it automatically.
Nevertheless, to overcome the elevated requirements imposed to
the system components, in special the release bearings, the
industry has dispended considerable efforts on the development of
new processes and design methodologies.
This paper focuses on design-oriented simulation of DCT release
bearings on a fully virtual environment, with the aim of defining
new approaches and calculation procedures within the early steps of
product definition.